Dr Jean-Marcel Ribaut, IBP Director, gives the concluding lecture at the 5th International Conference on Next Generation Genomics and Integrated Breeding for Crop Improvement (NGGIBCI-V), which was held on 18-20 February 2015 at ICRISAT Campus, in Hyderabad, India. See also: the day in photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/130732617@N02/sets/

1. Jean-Marcel Ribaut
5th NGGIBCI
February 18-20,2015
ICRISAT, Patancheru, India
Translational Biology: The
Generation Challenge Programme –
A Successful Case Study

2. Our Discussion Today:
♦ Translational biology
♦ Introduction to GCP
♦ Major achievements
♦ The Integrated Breeding Platform
♦ Lessons learnt and legacy
♦ Perspectives and conclusion

3. Translational Biology
♦ A “Must Have” to have impact on the ground
♦ A lot of good intention but still too little impact
♦ Research: Link upstream with applied research with well
defined delivery pipeline
♦ Examples of initiatives: Gates Foundation projects, African Orphan
Crop Consortium, NGGIBCI, GCP, others
♦ Deployment and sustainable adoption: Remains the major
challenge
♦ Still paternalistic approaches
♦ Keep scientists/breeders excited about their work (capacity building,
funds, recognition, partnerships, professional development, etc)
♦ It starts by implementing good practices
♦ Infrastructure (field and IT)
♦ Data and knowledge management
♦ Quality control
Impact of translational biology often relies on change management
and the human component should not be underestimated

4. The Generation Challenge Programme
An Introduction

5. GCP in brief
♦ A CGIAR Challenge Programme hosted at CIMMYT
♦ Launched in August 2003
♦ 10-year framework (Phase I, 2004–2008; Phase II, 2009–2013), with
2014 as the closing year
♦ About US$15–17m annual budget
♦ Target zones: drought-prone environments
♦ Sub-Saharan Africa, South & South East Asia, L. America
♦ Eighteen CGIAR mandate crops in Phase I
♦ Nine CGIAR mandate crops in Phase II
♦ Cereals: maize, rice, sorghum, wheat,
♦ Legumes: beans, chickpeas, cowpeas, groundnuts
♦ Roots and tubers: cassava
Strategic objective: To use genetic diversity and advanced plant science to improve crops
for greater food security in the developing world
GCP: A broker in plant science bridging the gap between upstream and applied science
www.generationcp.org

6. Phase II

7. Generation Challenge Programme (2013-2014)
('000 USD) Total
Income - Donors 2003-2014 %
Austria 54 0
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 34,238 20
CGIAR Fund 16,521 10
DFID/UK 31,767 19
European Commission 57,280 34
Kirkhouse 15 0
Pioneer Foundation 210 0
Rockefeller Foundation 2,225 1
Sweden/SIDA 874 1
Switzerland/SDC 3,557 2
Syngenta Foundation 688 0
University of Illinois 48 0
USAID 400 0
World Bank 17,756 11
Interest Income 1,330 1
Other Income 55 0
Total Income 167,018 100
Expenditure
Research 142,550 86
Program Management 24,168 14
Total 166,718 100
Balance 300

8. Selected key achievements

9. Indicators
♦ Money allocation to partners
♦ Significant in-kind contribution from partners
♦ Open exchange of experience and information
♦ Partners not necessarily attracted (purely) by money, but to be part
of a network, visibility and exchanges with peers abroad
♦ Critical but indispensable intangibles – trust and goodwill
♦ Partners continue to work together after GCP projects end
Evolution of roles and responsibilities
♦ A switch: Leaders become mentors
♦ Knowledge applied & transferred: Trainees become doers & leaders
♦ In phase II, more than half of our PIs are from developing countries
and more than half the grants go directly to National Programmes
It takes time and resources to nurture and implement true
partnership!
True Partnerships

10. The sorghum case: From Cornell to African farmers’
fields with a stopover in Brazil: a ten-year effort
♦ Step 1: Competitive Project (initiated 2004)
♦ Led by Cornell in collaboration with EMBRAPA
♦ Plantlets screened under hydroponics – Alt1 Gene cloned
Magalhaes et al. 2007, Nature Genetics, 39: 1156–1151
♦ Step 2: Competitive Project (initiated 2007)
♦ Led by EMBRAPA in collaboration with Cornell
♦ Favourable alleles identified – Improved germplasm for
Brazil
Caniato et al. 2011, PLoS One 6, e20830
♦ Step 3: Commissioned work (initiated 2009)
♦ Led by Moi University in collaboration with EMBRAPA
♦ Introgression of favourable alleles – Improved germplasm
for Kenya and Niger
Linking Upstream with Applied Science

11. ♦ Genetic resources
♦ Reference sets for 18 crops (all CGIAR mandate crops)
♦ Genomic resources
♦ Markers for orphan crops
♦ Informative markers
♦ Drought, viruses and insect resistance
♦ Genes/QTL
♦ AltSB for Al tolerance, Pup1 for P uptake efficiency, Saltol for salt tolerance
and Sub1 for submergence tolerance.
♦ Improved germplasm
♦ New bioinformatic tools (data management, diversity studies, breeding,
etc)
♦ Enhanced capacity for MAB in NARS programmes
♦ Human resource capacity / physical infrastructure / analytical power
♦ Ex-ante analyses of MAB impact in developing countries
Product catalogue: www.generationcp.org/impact/product-catalogue
Selected Major Research Outputs

12. Peer-reviewed publications
5
25
51
57
68
78
73
90
32
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Journal articles published: 2005‒2013
Year
Number
In selected high-impact journals (2007‒2013):
• Nature: 5, Nature Biotech: 3
• Nature Genetics: 2, PNAS: 8

13. ‘Classic’ approach
♦ Formal postgraduate training programmes
♦ 100+ MSc and PhD students whose work is embedded in research projects
♦ Workshops, fellowship grantees, travel grants
♦ Train-the-trainers for future regionalised capacity-building sustainability
♦ Communities of practice
♦ Rice in the Mekong; Cassava in Africa
♦ IBP-hosted (both crop- and expertise-based)
Perhaps not so common – probably uniquely GCP
♦ Capacity building à la carte
♦ Integrated Breeding Multi-Year Course: breeding, data management,
data analysis
♦ CB along the delivery chain (scientists, technicians, station managers)
♦ Technical support for infrastructure implementation
♦ IBP an integrated way to promote the problem-solving approach
♦ It is really about “learning as you go”
Capacity building

14. The Integrated Breeding Platform

15. IBP General Overview
The Integrated Breeding Platform
https://www.integratedbreeding.net

16. IBP Overall Objective
To improve the efficiency of plant breeding
programmes in developing countries by enabling plant
breeders to access modern breeding technologies,
breeding materials and related information in a
centralised, integrated and practical manner
A platform to facilitate sustainable adoption and
implementation of translational research outputs to
serve plant breeding needs

17. BMS Core Applications
IBP General Overview
Programme & information
management
• WorkBench (dashboard view)
• Study Browser
• Breeder Queries
• Ontology Manager (9 crops)
• Germplasm import tool
• Data import tool
Breeding activities
• Germplasm List Manager
• Crossing Manager
• Nursery Manager, with Seed
Inventory
• Trial Manager
• Integrated Breeding
FieldBook
Statistical analysis –
Breeding View:
• Single-Site Analysis
• Multi-Site Analysis
• Multi-Year Multi-Site Analysis;
• Breeding View Standalone
for QTL
• Quality assurance
Marker-assisted breeding
• Integrated Breeding Planner
• Genotypic Data Management
System (GDMS)
• QTL Analysis Tools
• Molecular Breeding Design
Tool (MBDT)
• OptiMAS​

18. BMS: Breeding Services

19. BMS: Research Outputs Deployment

20. BMS: Alt1 as predictive marker

21. ♦ Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: $12M
♦ GCP carry-over: $4M
♦ Clear shift from development to deployment!
♦ Deployment of the BMS is not just about adopting new
technology; it is about changing the way of doing breeding
♦ Behaviour change is a (THE) major challenge
♦ Focuses on sustainable adoption of good breeding practice,
starting with suitable and modern data management
♦ Very different baselines depending on breeding programme
format, resources and objectives
♦ Specific deployment plan
IBP Phase II (Oct 2014-2019)
One size doesn’t fit all!

22. Local Support: A “must have”

23. I/BMS
Network
CB
Crop
resources
Services
IBP
Mid-term vision, beyond the current IBP:
An Integrated Breeding Management System
Station MS
GIS MSBreeding MS
Finance MS

24. Lessons Learnt and
Conclusions

25. Lessons Learnt and Conclusions (I)
♦ Still early to measure impact on the ground at this stage
but overall, it seems that GCP has been a successful
venture:
♦ Quality of science supported by impressive set of publications
♦ Broad range of products have been generated
♦ Networks will continue to operate under the leadership of
champions (regional, crop specific, across institutions)
♦ The GCP is already missed!
♦ Major achievements probably revolve around:
♦ Establishment of true and dynamic partnerships based on trust
and evolution of responsibilities: The GCP spirit!
♦ Cultural change on how to run R4D projects from a research and
management perspective
♦ Enabling partners in developing countries to access modern
biotechnologies

26. Lessons Learnt and Conclusions (II)
♦ An combined management of competitive vs
commissioned projects has been key to succeed
♦ The GCP model: “Broker in plant science” can be applied
to complement institutional core activities
♦ Lessons learnt from the CPs in general and GCP in
particular can positively inform the CRP organisational and
operational models
♦ The legacy: The IBP lives on!
♦ Contributing to promote breeding evolution-revolution
♦ An integrated and comprehensive “one stop shop” approach
♦ Enabling GCP product deployment
♦ Providing capacity building support “as you go”
♦ An innovative business model approach
The BMS is building a very good momentum with increasing demand!

27. GCP/IBP International Staff 2003 - 2014
 Akinola Akintunde
 Antonia Okono
 Arllet Portugal
 Carmen de Vicente
 Chunlin He
 Clarissa Pimentel
 Claudia Bedoya
 Corina Habito
 Delphin Fleury
 Diego González-
de-León
 Eloise Phipps
 Fernando Rojas
 Fred Okono
 Gillian Summers
 Graham McLaren
 Hamer Pascal
 Hei Leung
 Humberto Gomez
 Jan Erik Backlund
 Jean Christophe
Glaszmann
 Jenny Nelson
 Jonathan Crouch
 Kaitlin Lesnick
 Kate Durbin
 Larry Butler
 Mae Christine
Maghirang
 Maria Teresa Ulat
 Mark Sawkins
 Ndeye Ndack Diop
 Nelzo Ereful
 Nosisa Mayaba
 Peter Ninnes
 Philippe
Monneveux
 Rajeev Varshney
 Robert S. Zeigler
 Rowena Tulod
 Shawn Yarnes
 Theo van Hintum
 Valérie Boire
 Xavier Delannay

28. GCP People:
The Programme’s Greatest Asset!

30. Genomics: sometime a flavor of The
Miracle Approach
Crop diversity
Improved
crops
Genomics
Translational Biology: To increase the
probability that the Miracle occurs

31. Genomics: The Plant Genome
Unveiled Today! Now what do we do with that?

32. Our Mission is Clearly Defined!
Thank you very much!